i like the separation in his comment, as if if you don’t scroll back maybe 10-20 pages he’d be trashing him all the same.
Barcelona: Charged with corruption .... again!
- Thread starter The Boy
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i like the separation in his comment, as if if you don’t scroll back maybe 10-20 pages he’d be trashing him all the same.
Are you angry that you'll have to continue playing CB now Pique is retiring and Christensen is too busy on the toilet on match days?
Whatever he was promised was obviously worth it for him plus he gets his deferred wages.
I don’t see the big deal personally. He’s just cemented his future in control of a club he clearly loves.
Whether he will be a good president or not we don’t know.
Barca are like a gambling addict who always seems to weasel out of impossible situations and find the money they need but eventually the possible options run out.
That time will come……
I don’t see the big deal personally. He’s just cemented his future in control of a club he clearly loves.
Whether he will be a good president or not we don’t know.
Barca are like a gambling addict who always seems to weasel out of impossible situations and find the money they need but eventually the possible options run out.
That time will come……
Your team has never won half our trophies or played half as well. What a shame. We played the best football ever but a fan of an oíl club which have never amazed anybody think we are a shame.
Man Utd is a big team, you are artificial.
Good match of Arnau Martínez (RB, 19yo) today with Girona. He would be an interesting option for about €15M.
I hope that Barcelona sign with good judgment with the Pique lever.
I hope that Barcelona sign with good judgment with the Pique lever.
He's a legend but the decision to go now is about 2 years too late and with all due respect, Busquets and Alba need to follow suit.
I feel a little bad for Pique and the way Xavi has exiled him to 5th choice CB so openly. Alba also got a shitty end of the stick (he is NOT worse than Marcos fecking Alonso) yet Busquets, the sacred cow, who puts in just as many terrible performances, gets a pass. Pique's personality makes him an easy target I guess.
What a career from Pique though, a world class CB in his prime, won every trophy available and played for the greatest club side in history. Will never forget that manita hand vs Madrid, iconic.
I feel a little bad for Pique and the way Xavi has exiled him to 5th choice CB so openly. Alba also got a shitty end of the stick (he is NOT worse than Marcos fecking Alonso) yet Busquets, the sacred cow, who puts in just as many terrible performances, gets a pass. Pique's personality makes him an easy target I guess.
What a career from Pique though, a world class CB in his prime, won every trophy available and played for the greatest club side in history. Will never forget that manita hand vs Madrid, iconic.
Isn't his most famous handling situation when he hand balled against Chelsea and some how got away with it? I thought that image was the epitome of UEFAlona.
Barcelona was hurt more than they favored them in the Champions League, but much more. The thing is that Barcelona ended up winning some of those ties and finals where they were harmed. I'm lazy to look for the videos because some plays are not on YouTube. But I will make the post calmly soon.
There are other teams that are highly favored and nobody says anything. I guess propaganda works with the herd.
Yes, they dragged the club down in terms of sport and were the main protagonists of barca's CL disgraces these last years. I said I didn't want to see them on the pitch anymore or should I feel bad now, because I don't want to see Ronaldinho on the pitch anymore? We have probably a different understanding what an insult is.
But I hope you felt good searching my post history to find something hypocritical. What a pathetic try.
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I’d have been pretty disgusted with anyone talking about Rio in that way when his legs started to go.
Puyol was utter shite in his last seasons also, could barely get out on the pitch as the injuries piled up, yet somehow you claim he’s a bigger legend because he left with his “held held high” and will always be welcome back, as though Pique fecking won’t
For what it’s worth, it’s not up to players to retire in order for fans to respect them or for them to “hold their heads high”, in fact that rarely happens, it’s up to the club & management to manage that transition.
Suggesting Pique won’t leave the club with his head held high is a massive insult to an absolute legend.
It's hilarious when people talk about Pique and Busquets and Alba dragging the team down when they've been 3 of their best players for the past 4 seasons. Pique was still their best CB by the end of last season. And Busquets? There's a reason why the club prioritized other roles instead of replacing him last summer. Alba is a weird one. He's still noticeably excellent in possession and while he's no longer a good defender, it doesn't make any sense that they signed and are now playing Alonso, who is worse
They look "good" in a controlled setting(la liga games against some bottom half sides), not so when they are challenged.
Busquets, a supposed DM, being outpaced by Kroos says a lot, there is a reason they aren't doing much in Europe anymore.
For me the best CB last year was Araujo. Anyway, that Pique has been one of the best CB of Barcelona only indicates the low level that was. Being better than Lenglet, Umtiti or Mingueza is not that it is very meritorious.
The question is whether he has the level for the important games.
Alba defends very badly and loses a huge amount of balls every game. Nor is he for important games.
Sure. But a lot of you have been blaming him for still being there like it was his fault the club wasn't signing anyone to replace him
Don't disagree but you signed Marcos Alonso to replace him...
Real Madrid fan praising Busquets and Pique.
I'm sure you'd very much welcome them staying on for another 3-4 seasons, preferably in the starting lineup. You have ulterior motives though.
I would of course. Doesn't change the fact that they kept playing until now because the club never signed anyone better to replace then. Pique is retiring now that he's 5th choice. Last season without him they would have finished modtable in the leagueReal Madrid fan praising Busquets and Pique.
I'm sure you'd very much welcome them staying on for another 3-4 seasons, preferably in the starting lineup. You have ulterior motives though.
The fact that Barcelona management didn't bother to sign their replacements doesn't necessarily directly prove that they are still good enough though, it just proves that the board think they are. I personally think that they are both completely done as professional footballers and what's worse they have been for a while. But unlike Real who usually have no problems showing the door to washed up players (whatever their status within the club) Barcelona just keeps clinging to the past with predictable results.
I disagree about them being done. Pique is *now*, he was still pretty good last season. Busquets struggles with high-intensity games, has for years now, but he's still perfectly good most of the time. Alba is still a really good attacking player
Yes they need replacing and have for a while, but the idea that they were the problem is insane
Yes they need replacing and have for a while, but the idea that they were the problem is insane
Out of the three I think Busquets was the better player in his prime and he was on a different level while I never rated Pique and Jordi Alba the same. I think it also has a lot to do with their personalities, for example someone like Puyol is someone better liked and respected even outside Barca supporters, the same goes for Iniesta, Dani Alves, etc.
It's hard to evaluate Xavi's ability as a manager. Early days. But from midfield onwards they have some sensational players. If things continue the way they have they might have to look at selling one of the three prodigal youngsters. Anyhow, if we draw them I could see us either scrape through with a hardcore team performance or be mauled by their attackers.
I know we're all thinking of a striker in January, but we are also desperate for a tactically suitable centre back option given Varane's fitness concerns. Lindelof and Maguire have absolutely no business playing the better sides in Europe.
I know we're all thinking of a striker in January, but we are also desperate for a tactically suitable centre back option given Varane's fitness concerns. Lindelof and Maguire have absolutely no business playing the better sides in Europe.
Up front they have Lewandowski, period. Dembele isn't reliable at high level (even when not injured), Fati has yet to show he's still the huge potential he was before his injury, Raphina is very disapointing so far and Ferran Torres is just meh. They do have good midfielders though.
Pique, for me one of the best defenders of the past 15 years. So underrated.
He was a one man defence at Barcelona for a few years.
He was a one man defence at Barcelona for a few years.
That's just not true. He was the only consistent center back they had after Puyol but Mascherano, Umtiti or even Lenglet had really good periods, it just didn't last long.
Not mutually exclusive. Do you remember Mathieu?
Mathieu only started on a regular basis for Barcelona for like a season and a half (with big injury gaps), and it wasn't always bad. He barely played when they won the CL title in 2015 for example.
This doesnt reject my point. Pique had been playing with bums for a good period after Puyol's retirement, and did awesome to hold together Barcelona's defence in the period were they were still succesful.
Well, therein lies the problem obviously. Pique might have been good last season, but was mostly atrociously bad the season before (2020/21 under Koeman). Everyone knows that Busquets struggles in high intensity games, everyone but Barcelona managers it seems, because they for whatever reason inevitably field him in the starting XI in every potential high intensity game (and the results are invariably predictable). if they can't be managed (and it seems they can't) then the only viable solution is to kick them out completely unfortunately.
It does reject your point, you mention "bums", and "for a few years" when he fact you only mentionned Mathieu who wasn"t bad at first and only started for was pretty much one season if you add part of 2014/2015 and 2015/2016.
Mascherano wasn't a bum, neither was Umtiti before he got injured, same for Lenglet when he showed up and yet you make it sound as if they were bottom of the barrel defenders that only made it because of a magnificent Piqué. It's just not what happened.
Umtiti was great before his injury, Mascherano was good as well.
So Barca wasn't always one man defence
No, they know it too, they just don't have other options
That's not true. They CHOSE not to think of their midfield without a holding midfielder like Busquets. They had De Jong, they had Kessie, but Xavi (and probably the rest of the Barça board) thinks Barcelona needs Busquets to play the Barça way. Busquets is retiring soon and Xavi lost the opportunity to reshape his tactics, and I'm pretty sure they'll try to replace Busquets with a "Busquets like" player like Jorginho, and it's likely to fail.
I don't really get why you're defending them far too much for a Real Madrid fan. I mean I'd get the defending part if it was in good faith buy you bo way overboard.
That's on the club
Kessie isn't better than Busquets though. De Jong needs cover for his runs and isn't a great fit with Gavi and Pedri. Plus they wanted him out
Not really defending them so much as pointing out that they don't dictate club decisions and yet people have been blaming them for it
Xavi's favorite is Zubimendi. He has a €60M clause.
I prefer to sign Jorginho and see how Nico and Marc Casadó develop. Then there's FDJ.
No, that's on the club AND Xavi. He could have tried to find something to make it work with De Jong or Kessie, he chose not to. Kessie showed interesting things when he arrived, then Xavi consistently benched him. He did the same with De Jong.
Instead he decided to stick with a Busquets close to retirement because it makes it easier for him to win against bang average La Liga teams (meaning pretty much all of them but Real Madrid this season).
Kessie is both worse than Busquets AND not a lone pivot. Busquets plays because Xavi doesn't want to play with a double pivot, because he has Pedri and Gavi and generally wants to play both. He doesn't really have the players to fit Kessie or De Jong with those two.
And again: Kessie is a worse player than Busquets anyways
Did the board force him to play with Gavi who was generally bad in the CL? Did anything prevent him to use Pedri/De Jong/Kessie for exemple? Kessie is worse than Busquets at doing Busquets stuffs. Had he been asked to do something different, there's no reason to think he couldn't have done it since Barcelona would have been, at least, far more balanced defensively.
It's Xavi's choice. And made them rely on a 35 years old Busquets who's about de retire, and eliminated from 2 CL (lets say one and a half because he arrived during the season) or ridiculed at home in europa league. Talk about a rebuilding.
His only luck he has is that La Liga is at it's worst in decades and he's only competing against Real Madrid.
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Xavi’s arrogance and stubbornness will be his undoing. His major problem is lack of adaptability and that’s the reason why he will be a failure at Barcelona. They need to evolve their football and ditch the “Barcelona way” which every team knows how to counter since ages ago.
The "Barcelona way" is the Dutch school and I do not see that's being countered, just look at City and Arsenal.
The same thing you said can serve Ten Hag, it's the same kind of football.
Now I ask you, you would fired Ten Hag?
Ten Hag, Guardiola and even Arteta seem to be more pragmatic than Xavi. Yes, they share a similar philosophy (ten Hag to a lesser extent), but Xavi seems to want to play just like they did 10 years ago, it doesn't look much different, so I think it's fair to call him stubborn regarding his tactics.